Defect in line leads to Duke Energy outage for 14,500 in Lafayette, West Lafayette
LAFAYETTE, Ind. (WISH) — A significant swath of Lafayette and West Lafayette had been without power for hours Wednesday.
Duke Energy’s power outage website said about 6:30 p.m. that 14,568 customers in Tippecanoe County were without power. Power had been restored to all but 23 customers by 8:30 p.m.
McKenzie Barbknecht, a spokeswoman for Duke Energy, told News 8 by phone, “A piece of equipment on one of our transmission lines became defective. We have crews on the ground now that are making emergency repairs.”
The Lafayette city government on Facebook had indicated the outage could last through 6:45 p.m.
Lafayette police were among the first to warn residents of the upcoming outage, which was to have begun at 2:45 p.m.
Duke Energy issued a statement to the media via email at 9:06 p.m.
“On Wednesday afternoon, a cross arm on a transmission line in Lafayette, Ind. malfunctioned and required emergency repair. In order to safely make repairs to the damaged equipment and to ensure continued reliability, Duke Energy crews deenergized a major power line that feeds a large number of customers in the downtown area. This resulted in a power outage that impacted 14,567 customers and lasted approximately two hours. As of 9 p.m. this evening, the vast majority of customers have had service restored. We greatly appreciate our customers’ patience and understanding as our crews worked to safely restore power as quickly as possible.”
Duke Energy
